LOEX Quarterly Volume 40

TechMatters: “Qiqqa” than you can say Reference Management: A Tool to Organize the Research Process

Krista Graham, Georgia State University

Perhaps you are a user searching for an alternate Getting Qiqqa reference management tool given the news about that tool’s In order to use Qiqqa you do need to download and in- purchase by Elsevier (http://blog.mendeley.com/start-up- stall a copy of the free software application, which is cur- life/team-mendeley-is-joining-elsevier/)? Or maybe you are rently only available for the Windows and Android plat- a current EndNote user searching for an alternative with a forms. Although you can test drive the application without gentler learning curve? Or possibly you are a happy logging in, you will need to create a free account (http:// user in need of a few additional features, such as the ability www.qiqqa.com/Account/Register) if you want to maintain to perform OCR on PDF images? Or you might just be a multiple “libraries” of information and share them with col- newcomer to the world of reference management software leagues and/or friends. looking for a usable tool to use yourself or recommend to students? Whatever the case, if you are in the market for a Collect and Organize new tool to organize, manage, and work with your collec- tion of research sources, you may want to take a look at The first stage in the research process generally in- Qiqqa (think “quicker”, but with a British accent). volves identifying and collecting what can quickly become a large number of articles on a selected topic. Qiqqa aids in

this process by allowing you to save copies of , along Developed by Cambridge University doctoral student with their descriptive metadata, into “libraries”. You can James Jardine, Qiqqa is designed specifically to meet the also include citations without attached documents which needs of students, researchers, academics, and educators. Qiqqa refers to as “non-PDF references”. According to the Qiqqa manual (http://www.qiqqa.com/ Content/Client/The Qiqqa Manual.pdf), its goal is to help By default, the application is setup with one main user with most aspects of the academic research process includ- specific library, along with a generic “guest” library that ing “searching, finding, reading, commenting, highlighting, you can use for testing purposes before setting up an ac- annotating, tagging, cross-referencing, exploring, discover- count. Once you have an account, however, you can setup as ing, brainstorming, sharing, writing bibliographies” and many separate libraries as you need to keep your work seg- more. With so many features, we won’t be able to cover mented and organized. everything in this article, but let’s check out some of the major ones together and then you can continue to explore on your own.

Figure 1: View of a Qiqqa “library” containing saved PDFs and reference information for selected articles.

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There are a variety of methods to add items to a library clude in the report; you can select one article, a collection of including selecting a file or whole folder from within Win- articles, or the entire library. If you don’t select any PDFs dows Explorer: dragging and dropping a file into the list on the library screen, then the generated report will include pane; importing from another program (e.g., EndNote, annotations for all items in the library by default. Zotero, Jab Ref, Mendeley or any program that exports to BibTex format); or by manually typing citation information Upon selecting the “Annotation Report” option, you into a template. You can also designate a “watch folder” on will be presented with the “Annotation Report Options” your computer so that when new PDF files are added there, box. Here you can select the specific tags and/or types of they are automatically imported into Qiqqa notes that you want to include in the report (see Figure 2). In the example below, I have requested the inclusion of all When PDFs are first added to a library, they often con- places that I highlighted, along with notes where I have add- tain very minimal metadata (see the sixth reference in Fig- ed the tag “Cite this!” I have also asked that the report in- ure 1 which includes only an author name and year of publi- clude any comments that I have added and the abstract for cation along with a cryptic file name). You can either manu- article (if available). ally add additional descriptive metadata into the “Reference Details” pane, or you can use the “Sniffer” feature to have Figure 2: Annotation Report Options Qiqqa search for the reference in Google Scholar and then automatically import the associated metadata. Once added you can search your libraries and filter the results using any of your stored metadata elements.

Of course, if at some point in the future you were to decide to switch to a different tool, you have the option to export your libraries in BibTex format to be easily ported to another system.

Read and Understand Qiqqa has a built-in OCR feature that works to ensure that imported articles are full-text searchable and attempts to identify abstracts and appropriate keywords. Of course, if automatic extraction fails to produce suitable results you can always override it and enter the appropriate content your- self.

When viewing the PDF of an item, the “Annotations” tab provides fields where you can add your own tags, com- An example entry from the resulting annotation report ments, and annotations for each item. You can also add is shown on the next page (see Figure 3). As you can see, notes directly onto the document using colored highlighter the report entry includes the available citation information tools, inline “sticky note” style annotations, and even free- for the article, the abstract, an image snippet from the article hand comments (most useful if you use a stylus as an input showing a “note” in context, as well as the OCR text version device rather than a mouse). In addition, you can add up to of the same note for copying and pasting if desired. nine bookmarks within a particular document to provide easy access to sections you want to find again quickly. Write and Produce

Depending on the size of the research project that you When you are ready to move into the final stage of the are conducting, your collection of resources may be signifi- research process—writing—you can use Qiqqa’s integrated cant and the number of annotations that you have inserted “InCite” tool to quickly and painlessly add references to into documents quite large. Fortunately, Qiqqa comes your Microsoft Word documents and create a bibliography equipped with a powerful tool called the “Annotation Re- formatted in the citation style of your choice. Qiqqa does port” that allows you to leverage the metadata you add to provide an option to "Export BibTex” of library items for your articles and find and revisit your annotations across all use into other systems that may work with alternate word documents. processors, but doing so is tricky and a better option is prob- ably to choose an alternate optimized to The “Annotation Report” feature is accessed from the work with your writing software of choice. menu ribbon on the library level. Before selecting this op- tion, make sure to first select the items that you want to in- If you are a Word user, however, “InCite” is very easy

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Figure 3: Entry from an Annotation Report gen- erated with the options from Figure 2

to use. You don’t need to install any extra plugin into Word; In Conclusion simply open a new document, along with the Qiqqa “InCite” In addition to the features outlined in this article, Qiqqa window, and begin typing as usual. When you are ready to also offers a number of tools to aid in brainstorming and add a reference, choose a citation from your library and information sharing with collaborators. A full discussion of press the “add citation” button (see Figure 4). Qiqqa will these options is beyond the scope of this article; however, insert a “citation-cluster placeholder” into your document. they are well documented in the manual that is included in To convert this to a more familiar style you select your the “guest” library that come with initial download of the “citation style” and then press the “Reformat Document” software. button in Qiqqa. You can then continue adding citations and formatting them as you continue to write. Whether searching for a means to organize your own research process or seeking a tool that you can recommend Adding a bibliography is just as simple. When you are to students, Qiqqa is most certainly a solid option. Obvious- ready, add a section heading and then press the “Add Bibli- ly, Qiqqa is just one of many software options in the territo- ography” button to insert the bibliography placeholder. Next ry of reference and research management (for a list of other use “Reformat Document” and properly formatted citations options see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ in the style of your choice should appear in your document. Comparison_of_reference_management_software), but for If at any point you wish to change citation styles, simply use those Windows/Word users looking for a free, independent “Pick CSL Style” to choose a new format and once again (for the time being), and relatively easy to learn application, use the “Reformat Document” button. it is certainly worthy of consideration.

Figure 4: Word document (right) with in-text citation and bibliography produced by Qiqqa’s InCite tool (left).

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